Iraq's "Cooperation"
So the world still watches, waits with baited
breath, to see what will happen in Iraq. The U.N.
Security Council seems impressed by Saddam
Hussein's sudden spirit of "cooperation." Only the
United States, Great Britain, Spain and Italy (not
a Security Council member) favor immediate military
action to depose Hussein and disarm Iraq of its
reputed weapons of mass destruction.
Since the other 12 members of the U.N. Security
Council prefer to kowtow to Iraq, allowing Hussein
to stall indefinitely, I thought it might be useful
to demonstrate a couple of the ways in which Iraq
has been "cooperative."
U-2 Overflights
Much has been made of Iraq's willingness to allow
American U-2 spy planes to fly over Iraq. This was
one of the U.N.'s key demands of Iraq, only
grudgingly granted by Hussein. Now that he has
allowed such flights, anti-war Council members like
France and Germany point to this as a major sign of
cooperation. But what went very underreported in
the media is the exact nature of these overflights.
As part of its agreement to allow the flights, Iraq
demanded to know the exact flight plans, speed,
altitude and call signs of the U-2s, as well as
receive 48-hour notice of the flights. To me, this
doesn't seem "cooperative" at all. How effective
can a spy plane be, if you know when it's coming
and where it's going to look?
"Cooperating Fully"
"We are ready to cooperate fully, and we are
cooperating fully," said Iraqi Deputy Prime
Minister Tariq Aziz over the weekend. But what he
added didn't seem to back up such claims. With
regard to the Franco-German proposal to beef up the
number of inspectors in Iraq and provide them with
U.N. peacekeeping troops as a way to avoid war,
Aziz categorically dismissed the idea, saying "Iraq
is a sovereign state ... We don't need United
Nations troops to interfere or to be in our
country." Not the spirit of "cooperation" one would
expect from a country that wants to keep troops of
another kind from invading. Even the pope urged
Iraq to cooperate more fully when he met with Aziz
in the Vatican that same day.
The U.N. may have bought Iraq a little more time
with this façade of "cooperation," allowing
weapons inspectors to go through the motions while
last-ditch diplomatic efforts stave off the
inevitable. But real cooperation will never come
from someone like Saddam Hussein. France and
Germany may make their protestations, echoed by
China and Russia, but there's only one way to
disarm Iraq.
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©2003 Michael
Strickland ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED
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Previously...
2/17:
Failure
to Communicate
2/16:
Cold
City
2/15:
Man-Eaters
of Tsavo
2/14:
Valentine
Gems
2/13:
Grab
Bag
2/12:
The
End is Near
2/11:
And
the Winner Is...
2/10:
Exploration
is Risky Business
2/9:
Staphylococcus
2/8:
Morning
Cup of Kofi
2/7:
Game
Over
2/6:
The
Eagle Never Landed
2/5:
Pope:
Potter No Problem
2/4:
Time
for Another Rewrite
2/3:
A
Matter of Opinions
2/2:
Suicidal
Bravado
2/1:
Godspeed,
Columbia
Archive: JANUARY
2003
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